Generally, an electrical connector typically includes some form of insulative or dielectric housing which mounts one or more conductive terminals. The housing is configured for mating with a complementary mating connector or other connecting device which, itself, has one or more conductive terminals. A connector assembly typically includes a pair of mating connectors, such as plug and receptacle connectors sometimes called male and female connectors. The terminals typically have terminating ends exposed at a terminating face of the housing for connection to various conductors, such as discrete conductors of a plurality of electrical cables or the circuit traces on a printed circuit board. The terminals have contact ends located at a mating face of the housing for engaging the terminals of the complementary mating connector or other connecting device.
The terminals of some electrical connectors include a plurality of flat metal layers juxtaposed to form a laminated structure. This might be done to increase the current carrying capability of the terminal. Terminals typically are stamped and formed of sheet metal material and folded together to form two adjacent layers at the contact end of the terminal, for instance. Laminations increase the strength of the terminal by increasing the thickness thereof, whereas thick metal layers are difficult and expensive to stamp and form of sheet metal of a relatively thick material.
Unfortunately, the plurality of metal layers of laminated terminals are difficult to align during manufacturing processes wherein the layers typically are welded together. Other problems involve delamination of the layers during fabrication of the terminals, manufacture of the connectors and repeated usage thereof. The welds have a tendency to break over time and repeated usage. The present invention is directed to solving these problems.
In addition, the invention provides for better electrical distribution between the metal layers of the laminated terminal. Still further, the various layers of the terminal are bent apart at their bottom edges to provide spaced multiple rows of solder tails.